Stoplight
by Toxi
Summary: A dumb little fic about Madotsuki meeting Shitai for the first time and getting the stoplight effect. Excuse me for being a writefag.


There was a dense feeling in the air. With the clouds overhead a sickening grey color and the tightly cloistered trees big enough to put treehouses in, everything but the road seemed to be compact and woven together. A slight humidity in the rain, perhaps. It was feeling a little sticky. Air that seemed to be something tangible when you'd try to grasp it, though only left your fingers feeling a bit wetter.

The girl kept walking down the straight path, though now there seemed to be a slight let up in the thickness of everything. Spinning her reddish umbrella rather mindlessly, she ignored the opening to the right and continued walking forwards, avoiding slight puddles every few steps.

Through the sound of the rain, she thought she heard something. Something that sounded like the revving of a car. She squinted her eyes to see if there really was a car. No, nothing that she could really see. Maybe walking some more would solve the problem. More revving, though even turning around, she couldn't see this car. The car revved and revved a few times, and then finally peeled out, hit something loudly, and then the loud screaming sound of the breaks hurt her eardrums.

Puddles splashed loudly as the girl started running forward. Forward seemed to be the only direction she could go now, other than backwards. But going backwards seemed ridiculous. She had just been there. But now her running slowed. She saw a few orange safety cones littered around something in the middle. A timid looking cone stood to the side. And two in the back, emphasizing that the girl was not allowed to walk further anymore.

She looked at the thing in the middle. It had sort of shaggy brown hair and bright green skin. Oddly, it wore an olivey-brown sweater with a white dress shirt poking out underneath and dark blue jeans. Slip-on brown shoes covered its feet. She decided to walk around the corpse, giving it a careful eye examination. So far, the car seemed to be nowhere. But, that was the least of her concerns.

Aside from its clothes, the corpse was floating in a pool of its own blood. And despite it having awkward green skin, its blood was red, leaving the girl to conclude that it was some sort of human_like_ thing. Still holding her umbrella in her right hand, she squatted down to peer at its face.

The right side of the face was ground into the asphalt, it looked like. The mouth was open agape, ready to look like it was about to scream. She couldn't tell what was happening to the eyes though. Instead of being able to determine if they were open or closed, they just looked dark. Still there, but dark. The corpse's hands were out in front of him, mirroring a shape like that of a football goal.

She stared at him a moment, watching to see if his face would suddenly start to move. But she could only hear the sound of the rain against the road and her umbrella. "Don't look at me like that," The girl smiled coyly.

The body made no movements.

"Oh, c'mon," She rolled her eyes, flicking a bit of her slightly wet, brown hair out of her face. "Get up! Don't make me wait."

The body shifted a bit, emitting a deep rumbling growl. Its arms cracked a bit, and looked awkward, but started to move and hold up the body that was trying to stand up. Next came its legs, scooting closer against the asphalt. The denim grinding ever so slightly. The body's movements were sluggish, and it was still dripping with blood, but the girl continued to wait, watching him.

He started coughing, sounding as though he were in considerable pain. His arms startled to buckle, but the girl cast aside her umbrella to help him up, resulting in her pink shirt being soiled with his blood. "Here," She said in a grunt, "I'll help you up." It was obvious she was struggling from her tone of voice.

Once the man was standing upright, his wheezy sort of cough slightly started up again, but he cleared his throat and resumed himself. He _did _have eyes. He was looking right at her. Dark, dull-looking black eyes, staring right into her. He smiled lightly, blood still dripping from his forehead.

"Shitai," The girl said to him, "You know what I'm here for."

"Do I?" He sounded like he was playing with her, his voice far less raspy and wheezy than it had been a few moments ago. "I'm sorry; I was just hit by a car. I think I'm suffering from a mild concussion."

Madotsuki smiled. "Shitai!" She protested, and pushed against him, not seeming to care that he was still bleeding. It was still raining now, and her clothes were getting all wet. Shitai was wet too, though there was something warm about him.

The recently deceased held up a hand to his left jaw, and leaned his head to the right. Once his neck cracked a few more times, he repeated the process on the other side, looking rather refreshed once he had finished the process. "You have no idea what getting rammed with a car does to your neck…"

"Shitai!" Madotsuki said a bit angrier. "You're not giving me what I'm here for."

"Am I supposed to?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. All of the blood that was traveling downwards suddenly veered in the direction his head was tilting.

"Yes," She nodded quite sadly, "I come here for a reason."

"And why is that?" He asked.

"I…I…" She paused hesitantly, feeling around for the umbrella that she had taken with her. She saw in the corner of her eye, and picked it up, closing it. "You're supposed to give me something, I remembered."

"But what do I have to give?"

"I…I don't know," The girl looked away, seeming both bitter and saddened.

"How did you know to find me, then?"

"I…didn't," she said, losing most of her nerve.

"You woke me up, didn't you?" He asked her, "I'm dead, remember?"

"But this is dream!" She yelled at him. "My dream. I'm dreaming. You're supposed to listen to me."

"Dreams don't always go your way." Shitai said in a low voice. He sounded like he was giving out a warning of some sort.

"I know that," The girl replied stubbornly.

"Why was it that I was hit by a car?" He asked in a rhetorical tone.

"Because you were jaywalking." She said rather wryly.

Shitai didn't say anything. His facial expression remained unchanged. He blinked once, deflecting some of the blood that was seeping into his eyes. He waited patiently, watching the girl as she was thinking.

Madotsuki paused, and bit her lower lip. "B—because they didn't stop?" She asked timidly, fearing her answer was turned aside just as her previous one had.

"Exactly," He said softly.

Madotsuki felt something change inside of her. Something was different. She panicked a little, then realized that she had received the effect she had come to get. She couldn't see it, but she knew it was there. In her mind. All she had to do was think and it would appear. And think it away to make it disappear.

"Shitai…" She said quietly, "What do I do with this?"

"Stop," He said slowly. "You stop things. That's all you do with it."

Madotsuki looked at Shitai for a long time. This was her first time meeting him, but she knew him. He was a tall, thin man with odd green skin who looked to be in his mid 20s, festering in his own blood. She had just heard the car, but knew he had been lying in the street there for quite some time. His only purpose was to wait for her.

"Can I come back and see you?" She asked, looking at him. Madotsuki wasn't frightened by him at all. He seemed like nothing bothered him.

"If you feel like it." He smiled. "I can only talk for a short while, though." He reminded her, "I'm rotting."

She smelled nothing. He didn't smell like he was rotting. She didn't see and flies or maggots or anything, even in the rain there'd still be there, wouldn't they? When she stood close to him, she could still feel his body heat.

"I'll come back!" She said firmly, standing there with one of her fists balled up.

He smiled faintly. "I'd like that. If you come back, I'll show you what's under the manhole cover over in there." He pointed behind her to the passage on the right she had ignored previously.

"Alright," She nodded back. "I'm waking up now."

Shitai stood there, starting to cough again. He coughed and he coughed, once more coughing up blood as his voice began to get raspy. Madotsuki remained firm, and pinched her left cheek. Everything disappeared.


End file.
